Does anyone belong to an HOA?

[Carsman]

I've only heard awful things about HOA's

The only benefit is-you probably will never have to look at a neighbor's yard full of broken down cars, or a pink house. And they will encourage you to always keep up on your lawn care, heaven forbid you get called away to active duty military serving your country and the lawn gets a little long and they fine you, whew.

You won't have to look at silly decorations probably or annoying signs posted by neighbors for garage sales

I belong to a HOA. Not all of them are awful, in fact mine is just fine now. I guess it depends
on whether it is run by an "outside" organization or run by the "HOA" residents.  
Currently, our current HOA President is a sweetheart, and is very personable and reasonable.
The HOA President is "elected" by the residents of the association when the current resident
no longer wants to be President. This system has worked well for over forty years. 
As far as for the lawn, it is meticulously maintained by the HOA fees, along with painting the buildings every 8 years, replacing the roofs when needed (just done 2022) supplying water, spraying lawns for bugs every two months, and providing assistance to residents when needed. I like my HOA.